Gerard Depardieu is shooting a film in Paris for the first time since he sparked a huge outcry by leaving France for tax reasons and taking Russian nationality.AP

Gerard Depardieu is shooting a film in Paris for the first time since he sparked a huge outcry by leaving France for tax reasons and taking Russian nationality.

In an interview, the 64-year-old star said he did not move out of the country to escape the taxman but to flee “the way governments use the money they take”.

The award-winning performer made headlines last year when he decided to move to Belgium after the Socialist government sought to impose a 75% tax rate on annual incomes over one million euros.

He was subsequently granted Russian citizenship by President Vladimir Putin.

“It’s the first time that I’m shooting again in France (since the controversy),” he said of his new film about the history of the FIFA World Cup, in which he plays the competition’s creator Jules Rimet.